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MoveOn is a community of more than 8 million Americans from all walks of life who use innovative technology to lead, participate in, and win campaigns for progressive change.Sat, 01 Aug 2015 12:30:53 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3Take action: Stand with Planned Parenthoodhttp://front.moveon.org/planned-parenthood/
http://front.moveon.org/planned-parenthood/#commentsThu, 30 Jul 2015 17:17:14 +0000http://front.moveon.org/?p=57596http://front.moveon.org/planned-parenthood/feed/0New Polling: GOP Medicaid Blockade Could Cost Republicans in Novemberhttp://front.moveon.org/new-polling-gop-medicaid-blockade-could-cost-republicans-in-november/
http://front.moveon.org/new-polling-gop-medicaid-blockade-could-cost-republicans-in-november/#commentsTue, 08 Apr 2014 13:01:31 +0000http://front.moveon.org/?p=54110MoveOn Urges Democrats to Go on Offense on Health Care and Hold Republicans Accountable for Standing Between 5 Million and Health Care through Medicaid

WASHINGTON, D.C.–New polling data released today shows that Republican governors in Maine, Kansas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Florida, as well as Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in Virginia and Kentucky, are trailing their Democratic opponents — and that expanding access to Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act is a winning issue in each of the states.

“Around the country, and in every state, voters strongly support expanding Medicaid to millions of people without access to affordable health care,” said Ilya Sheyman, executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action. “If Republicans stopped standing between millions of Americans and Medicaid, families could immediately gain access to the health care that they desperately need, while saving states money in the long run. Come Election Day, voters will punish Republicans for playing politics with people’s lives and reward Democrats who run aggressively on closing the Medicaid gap.”

The surveys, conducted in April 1-3 by Public Policy Polling (PPP), were commissioned by MoveOn.org Political Action. They found that large percentages of likely voters thought that their state should accept federal Medicaid expansion dollars, and that voters were significantly less likely to vote for Republican candidates who oppose Medicaid expansion.

In Kentucky, PPP found Sen. Mitch McConnell trailing Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes 44% to 45%. The survey also found that 53% of Kentucky voters thought that the state was right to have accepted federal Medicaid expansion dollars. View the polling data for Kentucky here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/216793719/Kentucky-Medicaid-Polling-Results

Moments ago, Judge Shelly D. Dick of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana issued a ruling in Dardenne v MoveOn rejecting the state of Louisiana’s attempt to force MoveOn.org to take down a billboard criticizing Gov. Bobby Jindal for denying health care to 242,000 Louisianians.

In her ruling, Judge Dick concluded, “the Lieutenant Governor underestimates the intelligence and reasonableness of people viewing the billboard.”

Judge Dick held that:

“The State has not demonstrated a substantial likelihood of prevailing on its burden of proving confusion by viewers of the billboard. Furthermore, the State has failed to demonstrate a compelling reason to curtail MoveOn.org.’s political speech in favor of protecting of the State’s service mark. Finally, the State failed to demonstrate that injunctive relief is required to ameliorate irreparable injury. There has been no showing of irreparable injury to the State.”

Anna Galland, executive director of MoveOn.org Civic Action, had the following response to the judge’s ruling:

“This decision is a victory for common sense, freedom of speech, and the 242,000 Louisianians being denied health care because of Governor Jindal and Louisiana Republicans’ outrageous refusal to let them access Medicaid. What it means is, our billboard is staying up.

“While we are pleased with today’s outcome, it’s a shame that the state filed this baseless lawsuit in the first place — which nearly every lawyer with basic knowledge of the First Amendment said they’d lose. Lt. Gov. Dardenne should apologize to the taxpayers for this waste of time and money — time and money that could have been better spent finding ways to get Louisianians access to health care.

“For us, this campaign has never been primarily about a billboard, or freedom of speech. It is about expanding access to health care and exposing the fact that Governor Jindal, in an effort to appease the far right-wing element of his party in advance of a likely 2016 run for the White House, has denied 242,000 Louisianians health care coverage. That decision shows that Governor Jindal cares more about politics than people.

“We will not be intimidated or silenced in our campaign to bring health care to Americans who need it. The truth is that denying health care to 242,000 Louisianians and 5 million Americans is a choice that Governor Jindal and Republican governors and legislators across the country are making – and for no good reason.

“Medicaid expansion would be fully funded by the federal government for three years, and then at least 90 percent of the funding would be guaranteed to come from the federal government forever. By saying no to this money, what Governor Jindal is doing is essentially taxing the people of Louisiana to pay for Medicaid for people in other states, but refusing to allow Louisianians to reap the benefits.

“242,000 isn’t just a statistic. It’s a number that represents the real stories of real people, like MoveOn member Veronica Russell, who lives in New Orleans, and earns just above the threshold to be eligible for traditional Medicaid, yet falls into the gap where she earns too little to receive subsidies for health care on the marketplace. So now she’s stuck without health care.

“That’s outrageous. If you work hard, if you contribute to society in the richest country on earth, you ought to be able to access health care. And one of the great things about the Affordable Care Act was that it finally gave people like Veronica an opportunity to get covered. But state officials like Governor Jindal continue to stand in the way.

“We are doubling down on our campaign to ensure every American has access to health care. We are expanding our billboard campaign in Louisiana. And we will will not rest until Governor Jindal and all of the other Republicans blocking access to Medicaid get out of the way.”

Today, MoveOn members across the country are ramping up their national Medicaid expansion campaign by urging GOP leaders to stop blocking health care access for millions of Americans and encouraging them to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid with a series of new TV and radio ads.

The TV and radio ads, which will be airing in Virginia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Kansas, and Oklahoma, are part of a six-figure media budget for MoveOn’s Medicaid expansion campaign. The TV ads feature actor David Moscow (“Big,” “Newsies,” “White Dwarf”) and parody the GOP’s position on Medicaid expansion, which leaves millions of Americans who fall in the Medicaid “coverage gap” without access to health care.

In Virginia, MoveOn’s new TV ad, which will air in Richmond, slams GOP House Speaker William Howell for continuing to block Medicaid expansion and denying more than 190,000 Virginians access to affordable health care coverage. The ad drives viewers to the parody website, www.HowellCare.com, which points out that Speaker William Howell and the Virginia GOP’s alternative to Medicaid expansion is to provide no health care at all to more than 190,000 Virginia residents. MoveOn members will be on the ground in Richmond on Wednesday to enroll members of the public in “HowellCare.”

In Louisiana, MoveOn’s new TV ad, which will air in Baton Rouge, criticizes Governor Bobby Jindal’s decision to block Medicaid expansion and deny more than 242,000 Louisianans access to affordable health care coverage. The ad drives viewers to the parody website,www.JindalCare.com, which points out that Governor Jindal’s alternative to Medicaid expansion is to provide no health care at all to more than 242,000 Louisiana residents. MoveOn members will be on the ground in New Orleans on Wednesday with an eight-piece brass band to enroll members of the public in “JindalCare.”

MoveOn’s campaign for Medicaid expansion in Louisiana generated major news last week when Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne announced a lawsuit against the group claiming that a billboard funded by MoveOn members, which appears on Interstate 10 outside of Baton Rouge, tarnishes Louisiana’s award-winning tourism slogan “Pick Your Passion,” and violates the state’s trademark. The billboard, which parodies the state’s tourism slogan, reads: “Louisiana! Pick your passion! But hope you don’t love your health. Gov. Jindal is denying Medicaid to 242,000 people.”

In Kansas, MoveOn’s new radio ad will air in Topeka and criticizes Governor Sam Brownback’s decision to block Medicaid expansion and deny more than 77,000 Kansans access to affordable health care coverage. The ad brands the governor’s decision to block tens of thousands of his state’s residents from accessing Medicaid as “BrownbackCare.”

In North Carolina, MoveOn’s new radio ad will air in Raleigh and criticizes Governor Pat McCrory’s decision to block Medicaid expansion and deny more than 318,000 North Carolinians access to affordable health care coverage. The ad brands the governor’s decision to block hundreds of thousands of his state’s residents from accessing Medicaid as “McCroryCare.”

In Oklahoma, MoveOn’s new radio ad will air in Oklahoma City and criticizes Governor Mary Fallin’s decision to block Medicaid expansion and deny more than 144,000 Oklahomans access to affordable health care coverage. The ad brands the governor’s decision to block more than one hundred thousand of her state’s residents from accessing Medicaid as “FallinCare.”

These actions are part of a national campaign by MoveOn.org Civic Action to urge GOP governors and legislators in holdout states to accept federal Medicaid expansion funds and stop blocking health care access for millions of Americans. MoveOn members have made thousands of phone calls, and collected more than 200,000 petition signatures in support of Medicaid expansion.

For Paul Chapman, Jr., Medicaid is a matter of life and death. The Dresden, Maine, resident needs his state’s version of Medicaid, known as MaineCare, in order to be able to afford the medications that keep his body from rejecting a recent heart transplant. Paul signed a petition to expand Medicaid started by Portland, Maine, social worker Jennifer Lunden, and noted, “Without the help from MaineCare, in essence I will be put to death.”

Jennifer created her petition on MoveOn.org in December 2012. “At the end of 2012, [Maine’s governor] was trying to slash the DHHS budget by $220 million and take 65,000 low-income and disabled Mainers off of MaineCare,” she explains to MoveOn. “A lot of people were really afraid of the impact that would have on Mainers. I felt really helpless,” she says. “And then one day I remembered the petitions that other people had started, and I realized that was something I could do.”

So she started her petition, which immediately resonated with Mainers. “I got almost 10,000 signatures. It was exciting, and I felt like I was able to do something,” she says. Then Lunden went to the State House and hand-delivered the petition to Rep. Patrick Flood, the Chair of the Appropriations Committee, and shared the signers’ concerns. “I felt like the petition made an impact. They didn’t make as many cuts as the governor wanted, but they still made too many. And we’re still dealing with that,” she says.

Her activism continues beyond the petition. She’s stayed very active, keeping petition signers informed about what they can do and writing an op-ed about the plight of Mainers who reached out to her — including Chapman. And now it looks like Maine has a second chance to expand Medicaid.

Lunden sprung into action last week and started a new petition, titled “Health Insurance for 69,500 Uninsured Mainers? Yes, Please!” It explains, “[A]ccepting federal funds would save as many as 157 lives in the first year alone, create 4,400 new jobs, and generate at least $20 million in state and local taxes. Why would any legislator turn that money down?” Why indeed? Here’s hoping Maine doesn’t miss out on its second chance to provide heath care to all of its residents.

Linda Cook, a digital media developer for a major publishing company, is another MoveOn member fighting for Medicaid expansion, this time in Florida. “There was no petition regarding the Medicaid extension in Florida, and our legislators basically just ignored the needs of Floridians, so I thought, ‘Well, shoot. I’ll just do it myself.’” And she did!

The issue was very personal for her. Cook had recently been laid off when she started the petition and was worried about medical care. “Thank god I’m now working and have insurance, so I don’t have to worry about that anymore. But there are a lot of people in this state who are still in bad shape when it comes to healthcare,” she says.

Her petition has garnered a whopping 24,300 signatures to date — not bad for her first petition ever! “I promoted it every way I could,” she says when asked about her petition’s success. “I used Facebook, I used Twitter, and I took advantage of the email capability — you can email all of your signers and ask them to share as well.” It didn’t hurt that a reporter for The Guardian got wind of the petition as well.

She says the response to her petition has been overwhelmingly positive. “You reach a lot of people. And the emails that I got — I was amazed. People told me their stories and thanked me for starting this petition…I expected mostly [to hear from] young people, but the emails I got were mostly from elderly people who were disabled. I just thought that was heart-wrenching.”

In July, the New York State Office of Mental Health announced plans to close two mental health facilities in the state’s Southern Tier—a move that would deny more than a million rural New Yorkers access to local mental health care. Morgan Willoughby started a MoveOn Petition to save the facilities and keep those vital services in the region. After thousands of MoveOn members signed the petition and called their state legislators, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state has reversed course. The plan has been modified to include keeping the Elmira Psychiatric Center open and expanding the Greater Binghamton Health Center with increased clinic capacity and telepsychiatry services.

Now that the holiday season’s in full swing, your conservative relatives have started bashing the Affordable Care Act over pumpkin pie and hot mulled wine. Here’s a quick cheat sheet to set the record straight:

Obamacare is NOT government-run healthcare. Obamacare is a law, not healthcare; it regulates health insurance, not healthcare. As always, insurance companies are the ones providing coverage.

]]>http://front.moveon.org/your-guide-to-debunking-conservative-lies-about-obamacare/feed/0How Obamacare is Striking a Blow Against Sexismhttp://front.moveon.org/how-obamacare-is-striking-a-blow-against-sexism/
http://front.moveon.org/how-obamacare-is-striking-a-blow-against-sexism/#commentsThu, 03 Oct 2013 21:22:11 +0000http://front.moveon.org/?p=51971Health insurance companies have been charging women an extra $1 billion every year for the exact same coverage as men. And before Obamacare, they could deny you coverage for a host of “preexisting conditions” like having had a C-section:

The GOP may have shut down the government, but it can’t stop Obamacare — the health insurance exchanges are open! Thanks for making sure we get coverage, President Obama.

]]>http://front.moveon.org/how-obamacare-is-striking-a-blow-against-sexism/feed/0Ladies, Here's Why You Should Be Psyched About Obamacarehttp://front.moveon.org/ladies-heres-why-you-should-be-psyched-about-obamacare/
http://front.moveon.org/ladies-heres-why-you-should-be-psyched-about-obamacare/#commentsThu, 26 Sep 2013 19:15:18 +0000http://front.moveon.org/?p=51898Did you know that before Obamacare, women paid nearly 70% more than men for out-of-pocket medical costs? Planned Parenthood created this graphic about that fact and other mind-boggling statistics explaining why women in particular benefit from the Affordable Care Act:

Some quick highlights:

Before the ACA, 1 in 5 women ages 15 to 44 were uninsured

Now almost 13 million uninsured women in that age range will be able to get health insurance

There are now no copays for preventative care, if you have Medicaid or private insurance

]]>http://front.moveon.org/ladies-heres-why-you-should-be-psyched-about-obamacare/feed/0Obamacare Is On Its Way And Here's What We Need To Knowhttp://front.moveon.org/obamacare-is-on-its-way-and-heres-what-we-need-to-know/
http://front.moveon.org/obamacare-is-on-its-way-and-heres-what-we-need-to-know/#commentsWed, 25 Sep 2013 14:47:17 +0000http://front.moveon.org/?p=51887There’s a lot of misinformation being tossed around regarding Obamacare. Here is a comprehensive, painless, and engaging seven minutes of the “YouToons” filling us in on what we need to know before enrollment starts on October 1, 2013 and the plans beginning on January 1, 2014.

]]>http://front.moveon.org/jon-stewart-on-papa-johns-and-what-watching-fox-news-is-easier-than/feed/0This 83 Seconds Is To Remind President Obama What We Just Voted Forhttp://front.moveon.org/this-83-seconds-is-to-remind-president-obama-what-we-just-voted-for/
http://front.moveon.org/this-83-seconds-is-to-remind-president-obama-what-we-just-voted-for/#commentsWed, 14 Nov 2012 14:30:12 +0000http://front.moveon.org/?p=43946Working families and retirees tell it like it is. Watch:

]]>http://front.moveon.org/colbert-a-_-_-off-a-raccoon-that-drowned-in-your-birdbath-is-preferable-to-papa-johns/feed/0This Republican Family Is Scared, Angry, And Fighting To Make Sure Obama Stays In Officehttp://front.moveon.org/this-republican-family-is-scared-angry-and-fighting-to-make-sure-obama-stays-in-office/
http://front.moveon.org/this-republican-family-is-scared-angry-and-fighting-to-make-sure-obama-stays-in-office/#commentsMon, 05 Nov 2012 17:23:55 +0000http://front.moveon.org/?p=43035For millions of Americans, the stakes have never been higher. Watch: